Left floating rib sticking out further than right?

[Serenityinaz12]

I wasn’t aware that the last rib on cats is a floating rib and I’ve noticed that my cat’s left one seems to protrude more than the right. Certain positions he is in I can’t feel it at all but if he is just standing there not turning or looking to any side if I run my hands down both sides it does feel the left one sticks out slightly more. I’m not sure if that is new or has always been and I just didn’t notice before. He’s acting no different eating fine, wanting to play like normal. It doesn’t seem to hurt him if I run on it either.

Anyone have any thoughts or experience with this? He is due for a check-up so will have him to the vet soon but wondering if anyone may be able to shed some light on this.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, Mr Captain has this, we asked our vet and he said it was fine. It certainly feels odd though and I don't recall our angel Poppycat having that.

 

[Serenityinaz12]

Hi, Mr Captain has this, we asked our vet and he said it was fine. It certainly feels odd though and I don't recall our angel Poppycat having that.

is Mr Captain only more on the left side also? And was it always that way or something you seemed to notice one day as being more?

 

[Furballsmom]

It's the left side, and although I'm guessing it was always that way, I just noticed it one day. He's about 8 now, we adopted him a year ago next month. I was petting him one day while he was lying down, and there it was, sort of jutting out / up a bit.

 

[Biomehanika]

Hey, this is so weird, do you all mean something like this or am I misunderstanding your description? I’ve recently noticed what I think you’re describing with my cat (but on the right side). It’s only really visible when she’s laying on her side at a certain angle. She’s always been a “wide ribbed” thick trunky type cat but the last section of rib cage is really sticking out/moving quite a bit with her breaths and stuff now. I don’t know if it’s normal or not or only looks funny due to the position she’s in. She used to be quite overweight so maybe it’s been like that a long time and just wasn’t so visible until somewhat recently? She seems totally fine and we have a vet visit in less than two weeks so I’ll ask about it, but it’s definitely odd!

 

[Serenityinaz12]

Hey, this is so weird, do you all mean something like this or am I misunderstanding your description? I’ve recently noticed what I think you’re describing with my cat (but on the right side). It’s only really visible when she’s laying on her side at a certain angle. She’s always been a “wide ribbed” thick trunky type cat but the last section of rib cage is really sticking out/moving quite a bit with her breaths and stuff now. I don’t know if it’s normal or not or only looks funny due to the position she’s in. She used to be quite overweight so maybe it’s been like that a long time and just wasn’t so visible until somewhat recently? She seems totally fine and we have a vet visit in less than two weeks so I’ll ask about it, but it’s definitely odd!

Yes, although my cat is chunky so can’t see it pronounced like yours. But yes that area at the back of the rib cage feels like it’s more pronounced than it used to be on his left side. I have an appointment on the 21st but will try to move it sooner. Please update when you get feedback from your vet and I’ll do the same

 

[Serenityinaz12]

I would like to add an update. So interestingly the feeling of my cat’s rib sticking out went away about 2 weeks after posting this. Then it came back yesterday. Very odd.

Had appointment with vet today and they took labs and x rays. No lab results yet but the x ray was abnormal. They are not sure yet if it is a liver lobe, spleen or something else as they said they did see some shading on the x ray which could be something deeper pushing that area out.

I’m real scared as I just lost my dad a couple weeks ago can’t deal with this too. I will update as I find out more. I wanted to update though as it does seem like it could be serious this situation arises

 

[Furballsmom]

My thoughts and prayers are with you